


My World is You

by Narcissos



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Hanceome Week 2018, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-03-01 08:12:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13290756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narcissos/pseuds/Narcissos
Summary: "Space..." Hunk echoes with a snort, "Sounds... big.""Endless." Lance adds."Lonely." Hunk murmurs grimly."Not if we get there together, man." Lance whispers, so quiet that Hunk had barely heard him. "You with me?"





	My World is You

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: This story has been polished and finished.
> 
> Title paraphrased from [Bloom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzy0U64CiD0) by The Paper Kites.

Hunk had promised his mother that he would stay safe, kissed his older sisters goodbye, and then been smothered in a hug by his stepmother before he was finally able to board the plane.

The same plane that would take him away from Hartford, from Connecticut, from the loving arms of his not-so-nuclear family, and from any semblance of familiarity that he had yet to give up.

It hurt to leave them, and hurt more so to know that while they still had each other, he'd be hundreds of miles away in Nevada, learning about how to engineer a vehicle to take him even further away from places his heart ached to part from.

The Galaxy Garrison was not a cushy suburban home with three floors, a refrigerator covered in artwork dating back more than twelve years ago, or a bedroom where he could sleep with the door left opened.

Instead, the Galaxy Garrison had strict guidelines, an unwavering curfew of nine pm, and most likely, cardboard meals that tasted like apathy.

When the plane touches down and all he can really see is desert, Hunk can already feel the changes that he would soon undergo. He can already see how this school will change him.

He picks up his suitcase from baggage claim, and double checks that all of his cards and documents needed for entrance to the school are on him, as if he hasn't already done so hundreds of times earlier.

He wheels his suitcase out of the airport and inhales the crisp Reno air. If he keeps walking, he'll reach Las Vegas. The realization that if he so desired, he could gamble away all of his scholarship money narrowly crosses his mind. The sheer absurdity of it all has him rolling his eyes and searching for a cab, banishing the idea from mind.

By the time Hunk sticks his hand out to hail a cab, a yellow car comes speeding towards him, and the window winds down. "Taxi?" asks the gruff, white man inside.

"Yes, please!" Hunk says with a squeak and while he could use UBER and get a cheaper rate, he's hesitant on touching his phone because he knows that if he does so, he'll just long to go home even more.

His sisters are probably anxiously sending encouraging words and messages for him, but reading them right now would start up a waterworks session that he's not excited for.

He pushes his suitcase into the trunk and brings his backpack containing all of his documents with him into the backseat. As he fastens his buckle, he takes note of the pamphlets depicting various casinos and resorts that are littered all over the taxi.

"Where you headed, kid?" The man wonders, as he sets up the meter. "If you're looking for a hotel, I can get you an outrageously cheap deal."

Well, Hunk decides, that isn't suspicious at all. "No, I'm, uh, headed to the Galaxy Garrison..." He hopes that this guy knows the place, because he'd hate to have to direct him through the GPS on his phone. He's not good with directions and being in this strange and hot state is worsening his anxiety.

"Oh." The taxi driver says sharply, "Yeah, almost time for the new year... I know the place pretty well."

Hunk blanches. Had this man also... gone to the Galaxy Garrison? Had he... ended up a taxi driver because some aspect of that hadn't worked out? Nearly beside himself with apprehension, Hunk manages to say, "Oh, yeah?"

He keeps his eyes on the monitor, watching as the price goes up with every few kilometres. The man coughs loudly and clears his throat. Hunk notices a pack of cigarettes on the console. "Yep, my son went there."

Having not expected that, Hunk pauses and feels his shoulders loosen. "Oh, did he... become like, an engineer or... a pilot?"

The man shakes his head and laughs, "Nah, he took his tuition money after the first day, caught a bus to Las Vegas, used it _all_ up on gambling and completely forgot his dreams and aspirations!"

The air left hanging in the taxi makes Hunk even more uneasy. He manages a forced laugh and returns to silence, praying in earnest that he'd just get to the Garrison and deal with whatever the hell comes next.

* * *

"Name?" trills the senior-year student at the admissions desk with a bored yawn.

Hunk tears his eyes away from the militaristic decor and the group of cadets running laps just outside. "Uh, Hunk, Hunk Garrett."

"Weird name." The student comments, handing him a keycard and gesturing to one of duffel bags with the Galaxy Garrison logo printed on top of it. "Handbook, schedule, all that shit's in there. Your room is on the east wing, number 236."

"Thanks." says Hunk albeit irritably as he picks up the bag. His name is on this one too, but on a white label and they've misspelled Garrett. What a place indeed. He's a bit worried about meeting his roommate, something he's definitely forgot about until now. This could spell trouble if they were a messy slob or just incredibly annoying.

As Hunk sets off through the barracks to find his room, he takes note of all the students walking to and fro wearing the uniform, others not. Those were the freshmen, then. The ones who hadn't earned their stripes yet.

He finds his room with relative ease, and the sign on the door says Garrett and beneath it, Mcclain. Whoever this person was, he hoped to make a good first impression on them. Hunk nods and hypes himself up, repeating "You can do this." under his breath as he finally unlocks the door. " _Hello!!_ " He exclaims as he throws it open.

He stops short, looking around. There's nobody here yet.

He exhales loudly, wheeling his suitcase over to the middle of the room. So he was the first one to make it in. That gave him first pick over what bunk he wanted.

He meanders over to the bottom bunk and unzips his suitcase, staring at his neatly packed things. His mothers had been adamant on making sure he brought everything he could possibly need, even a nightlight when he hadn't used one since he was eight. She really did think of everything.

Hunk sits down on the bed and takes a moment to catch his breath. He looks at his suitcase where the nightlight stares back mockingly at him. Coming here wasn't a mistake, he was here to learn and hone his skills but missing his family and the home he'd known all his life left a larger hole in his chest than he hoped.

He feels for his phone in his pocket, opens it and looks at the lock screen. It was a photo from his family vacation to Upolu in Somoa. It wasn't so much of a vacation as it was visiting his mother's old home and learning about the way she had grown up.

No matter how mopey he felt, Hunk was certain that it was only going to last for a little bit as he gets accustomed to the workings of the school. As soon as he throws himself into work and gets swamped by homework, maybe he won't miss home and maybe—

The door slams open, and someone shuffles in, muttering angrily in a language that Hunk can't understand. He knows enough about linguistics to place that A. It's Spanish and B. They're not happy about something.

The person who'd walked in is a lanky boy with dark, cropped hair and tan skin. If _this_ was the Mcclain who was his new roommate, he wasn't at all what Hunk expected.

The boy turns, catches sight of Hunk and _shrieks_. The noise surprises them both as Hunk jolts a little and the boy takes a couple steps back. "Oh my  _god_." He groans, slapping a hand to his forehead irately. "There was someone in here and I came busting in like a madman. Sorry bout that!"

"Nah, it's... cool." Hunk manages, eyeing them with halfhearted suspicion. "Are you...?"

"Yeah. Lance Mcclain." He replies, making a backhanded gesture to the door. "Bet you were expecting a white guy, huh?"

"My last name's Garrett, so... it must be mutual." remarks Hunk, relaxing his shoulders a bit. At least his roommate seemed agreeable enough. "What were you complaining about, though?"

"Ugh, this." Lance scowls, poking at the wheel of his suitcase. He tries to demonstrate moving the luggage, and hisses angrily as it refuses to budge, falling on its side instead. "It was fine when I left the house and when I got out of the car to get into the airport and then...? Ugh."

"Can I see?" He responds. "Maybe I can see what's wrong with it."

Lance shrugs and drops down to his knees as Hunk peers at the suitcase. After exactly three seconds of looking, he notices something off about one of the wheels. Hunk reaches towards it and pulls out a long, dark piece of–

"Licorice." They both say at once.

Lance exaggeratedly groans again, lowering his head in shame. "That's the work of my nieces. They came with me to the airport... Nice to know that I brought something with me from Cuba."

So he wasn't American. His name really would've tripped Hunk up if he hadn't told him so. He tries not to dwell on it, because it shouldn't make any difference. "I'm Hunk Garrett, by the way. Kind of an overdue thing to mention."

Lance says nothing as he rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Were your parents seers?"

"No?"

"Then... how'd they know you'd grow into your name?" Lance finishes lamely, topping it with a shit-eating grin.

After a beat of silence, Hunk stands up and brushes off the dust from his jeans. "That was... really bad. Horrible, even."

"I had to!" Lance cackles, standing up and looking around the room. "Ahh, we're gonna have a lot of fun. I can feel it, buddy."

Hunk raises a brow, but he really doesn't know what he's supposed to say. This is the quickest he's ever made a friend, but it feels more like Lance found him first. "I took the bottom bunk, by the way... Hope you don't mind."

"I don't mind." Lance says as he tosses his suitcase up to his bed. "You have any idea what we're supposed to be doing until lights out?"

"I think they're doing a campus tour in..." Hunk checks his phone. "Four minutes."

"We'd better get going!" He chirps, "Riiight after I use the bathroom. It was a long flight. Wait for me!!"

Lance dashes off, leaving Hunk standing by the foot of the bunk beds. He releases the breath that he hadn't even know he was holding and feels his phone vibrate in his pocket.

The Galaxy Garrison's A1 wi-fi had just connected to his phone, and he had several messages from his sisters and some of the friends he'd left behind. Hunk takes a peek at his sister's most recent message and finds himself smiling.

**[5:52 PM]**

_make any friends yet??_

He unlocks the screen and finds himself typing back a message despite not wanting to jump to any wild conclusions right away.

**[5:57 PM]**

_My roommate.... I think it's gonna be ok here._

And this time, he truly did believe himself.

* * *

The night brings newer challenges than the day. When the sun is out, at least Hunk can occupy himself by doing menial tasks and keep his mind away from overthinking too much.

The night does not grant that liberty. It's dark and quiet, and right now and for the foreseeable future, it's just him and someone he's only just met.

This isn't like when his sister steals a bottle of brandy from the wine cabinet and rants to him about her girlfriend troubles before passing out on his bed or when he falls asleep on the couch and can expect to wake up tucked into a blanket.

He's only just begun to know Lance.

Irritated by the fact that it's still too bright in the room, Hunk looks up from where his face is buried into his pillow and blows a strand of hair from his face.

"Wow, they sure are strict about curfew." whistles his roommate as he plugs his phone into its charger at the floor of the room. They don't have classes tomorrow, but he assumes Lance wants to have his phone charged up anyways.

Instead of lying it face-up, Lance turns on its flash and keeps the light facing upwards as he shuffles over to the switch at the door.

"Hey, Lance..." Hunk calls, pointing to the flash. "It's still on."

Lance gives him a somewhat embarrassed smile. "It's... a nightlight... Don't laugh at me. I just sorta forgot to bring one from home and I always use one soo..."

Hunk wants to point out that he'd never actually laugh at Lance for something like that, but it dawns on him that–"Wait dude..." He jumps out of bed and opens up his suitcase, digging around for the nightlight his mom had packed him. "You lucked out." He declares, waving the purple light around.

"Dude... You're an angel." Lance remarks as Hunk plugs it in. When it doesn't give off any immediate light, Lance frowns. "Does it work?"

"Yeah." Hunk says proudly, "Turn off the light and prepare to have your mind blown."

Lance gives him one last look of suspicion before he flicks the light switch and the room darkens, replaced by a projector-like glow of...

"Holy shit, are those _constellations_?" gasps Lance, streaking over to the ladder. He flops down on his pillow and grins. Hunk can faintly see his smile in the dim lighting. "That's so cool!"

"Yeah." Hunk says, ensuring the light is firmly in the wall. "My mom bought it when I was a kid. It's actually a replica of a–"

"A star map of the northern hemisphere!" interjects his roommate, sitting up and pointing at Ursa Minor. "It's so accurate! Holy crap!"

Hunk stifles his laughter. All day during their tour, Lance had tried his hardest to sound down to earth, ironically. Right now, he was sounding more like a child on Christmas day.

"Oh, man, it's just like back home." Lance continues excitedly. "My biggest brother had a telescope and when I was like six, he took me up to the roof and we stargazed almost every night. I used to think it was the coolest thing ever."

Hunk can't see Lance's expression, but he guesses that he must be smiling incredibly wide, talking about his home like that. "What did you want to be? Astronaut or...?"

"Briefly. Then, I heard about that pilot, Shiro, and I wanted to be like him, man, I still have a newspaper clipping up in my room from when he made headlines. The youngest guy to ever join the Garrison..." Lance sighs, "I want to see space for myself, y'know. Go where no one's ever been."

"Space..." Hunk echoes with a snort, "Sounds... big."

"Endless." Lance adds.

"Lonely." Hunk murmurs grimly.

After a beat of silence, Hunk shifts, wondering if Lance had actually succeeded in falling asleep already. If that were the case, then he was not only impressed, but envious. He squints at the clock on the wall across the room. Quarter past nine. 

"Not if we get there together, man." Lance whispers, so quiet that even Hunk had almost not heard him. "You with me?"

Hunk's breath catches in his throat. Very slowly, a smile breaks out over his face. "Yeah." He says.

Eventually, they both fall asleep. For the first time since getting on the plane, Hunk's heart did not ache to return home. He was going to make one out of the Garrison.  _And_ Lance.

...

Hunk's eyes open to the darkness of his room and the sounds of quiet breathing beside him. This isn't the Garrison, nor is it his house in Hartford.

He's still here, in space, thousands and thousands of miles away from any semblance of normalcy.

Not out of the ordinary though, Lance is still in his room, lying beside him with his back against Hunk's chest. He likes to act big and mighty to the other paladins, but he's still the littlest spoon when he gets ready.

He doesn't know what time it is, or if Allura will wake them up again with another ill-timed emergency drill, but he knows that it'll be near impossible for him to go back to sleep.

That was one of the bad things about space: there's no way of telling time when there are a million different ways to do it and every alien follows a different cycle.

"You have a bad dream?"

He hadn't actually thought Lance would be awake. "Nah, I was just remembering." He answers, quiet as if not to bother Lance any more than he already has.

"Remembering what?" asks Lance as he flips over to look at Hunk through the low light of the room. A few tendrils of hair have fallen in to his eyes and Hunk doesn't stop himself from brushing it away.

The fact that he can even see Lance in the darkness of the room is a surprise. There was this one tiny bulb that did not turn off, no matter how much Hunk tried to cover it up. While he preferred to sleep in total darkness, Lance absolutely did not.

Lance's room didn't have that light, so he often found himself in Hunk's room, curled up like a cat by his side, with or without his sleeping mask (which sort of defeated the purpose of clambering into his bed in the first place).

"You ever think about how my nightlight is still plugged into the wall in the Garrison." He jokes, although saying it out loud fills him with a hollow, nostalgic feeling. It's only been a few months.

Lance scoffs and falls quiet. After a moment, he adds, "I wish we brought it."

Hunk can wager a guess as to where the nightlight was right now. Everything must have been cleared out and taken in for investigation by the police trying to figure out where the three Garrison kids went.

He wonders if his moms and sisters were there, anxiously waiting for any signs of their missing family member.

He wonders if Lance's family was at the Garrison too, or if they were still in Cuba, enduring sleepless nights without any word on their Lance's disappearance.

He wonders many things, but he knows if he gets himself worked up over it, his anxiety will skyrocket even further than it already has.

"I used to tell my mom about you." Lance murmurs with a snort, "The boy from the Garrison, the one I was probably gonna bring home to Cuba... They were all excited to meet you... Look how that ended up."

"We still can." Hunk says gently, "I mean, once Zarkon is dead and gone–"

"And we find Pidge's family."

He nods, "And when we–"

"Restore peace to the universe."

Hunk purses his lips. "... _Then_ we can go home." He hadn't realized just how great of a fight this would be. They could very well be here for years.

He thinks Lance knows that. He _knows_ Lance knows that. It's what they'd all signed up for, the moment he stepped into the blue lion and it whisked them off to space.

Lance leans his forehead against Hunk's shoulder. "The next time we get a day off... Let's go get matching tattoos."

"You think there's an alien tattoo parlour  nearby?" Hunk asks, raising a brow.

"I'm surprised you haven't turned down the idea yet actually, but–"

"Oh yeah, no, that was a no. I was just humouring you." He quips.

Lance gasps, half-offended and scoots away from Hunk. "I see how it is."

"Awhh, are you pouting?" laughs Hunk, poking teasingly at Lance's side. "It's not that dark, I can tell when you're pouting."

"I'm not pouting." Lance says with a pout.

Hunk shrugs, "Alright, I'll just go to sleep then." He turns over on his side and counts down from ten.

After exactly ten seconds, he feels Lance's arms around his waist and his nose against his back. "Don't ignore meeee." grumbles Lance, "I need constant love and affection, you know this."

"Trust me, if there's one thing I know, it's that." snorts Hunk, as Lance finds Hunk's hands and laces their fingers together. "G'night."

"You don't know what time it is." mutters Lance, "It could be morning for all we know..."

Hunk manages to fall asleep again.

He dreams of the ocean. Waves crashing at his feet. A soft breeze ruffling through his hair. The sun warm on his shoulders. 

He hears his mother's voice amidst the sound of the tides. _Come home soon,_ she tells him in the tone she had used when she found out he was accepted into the Garrison. There had been a lot of tears that day, mostly from her, but it was nothing if not out of pride and joy.

 _I will,_ he tells her. _And I'm bringing someone home for you to meet. His name is Lance and he's the one I love._

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this was a multichapter story but I realized that I had no talent so I chopped it and made it a one-shot.
> 
>  
> 
> [tumblr.](https://leoriogf.tumblr.com)


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